


Elemental Interference

by Mnemosyne_Elegy



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Humor, Magic Gone Wrong, Sort Of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-10-13 10:40:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17486615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mnemosyne_Elegy/pseuds/Mnemosyne_Elegy
Summary: In which Gray and Natsu somehow manage to perform an amazing magical technique through a complete accident, and neither is pleased with the results. The girls' feelings are a little more...mixed.





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, you read that right—I tagged this as humor. This is possibly the first and last time I've ever written something that I can tag as pure humor, with no angst or hurt/comfort involved, so enjoy it while it lasts. Just so that I could say that I did it once. Now I can cross that off my bucket list lol

"Ha! I got seven now," Natsu crowed triumphantly as another dark guild mage threw in the towel and dropped to the ground unconscious. "Beat that, ice princess!"

Gray rolled his eyes. What an idiot. "I've already taken out seven, ash for brains. What took you so long to catch up?"

" _What_?" Natsu leveled an impressive scowl at him. "Impossible. You couldn't have already taken out that many with your wimpy magic."

"Wanna count them?" Gray shot back, gazing around at the carnage with no little satisfaction.

This dark guild really hadn't known what was coming. Their cockiness had lasted all of about thirty seconds, until Erza had gotten tired of their posturing and made short work of two of them. After that, it had been a free-for-all. Erza had wasted no time in fighting her way through the ranks of the enemy, a whirlwind of swords and malice that only the most brave or foolhardy tried to stand their ground against. Lucy had also managed to take out a few enemy mages by herself, although her greatest challenge seemed to be keeping her spirits in line since the dark mages themselves didn't pose much of a threat.

As for Gray and Natsu… Well, as with most things involving Gray and Natsu, it had quickly turned into something of a competition. A competition that Gray fully intended to win.

He spun in a circle, looking for any dark mages left standing. Ties were unacceptable, and he needed to take out another enemy in order to really defeat Natsu. Lucy was doing fine against her opponent and Erza looked like she had the other two under control, but surely there must be  _someone_  left.

His eye caught on a wide-eyed man lurking in the shadows, and he clicked his tongue in disapproval. No leader of  _any_ guild should sit back and watch while his guild was decimated. How truly pathetic.

"I call dibs on that guy," Gray announced, starting toward his hapless victim.

"What? No! He's mine!" Natsu protested, darting forward as well.

The two rivals halted their advance to glare at each other.

"I saw him first," Gray said with a scowl.

"And? I'm gonna take him out anyway."

"Oh no you aren't!"

The object of their discussion was looking back and forth between the bickering duo uncertainly, but neither paid him any mind until he decided to seize his chance to attack them while they were distracted. The wind spell he sent their way wasn't terribly strong, and Gray easily threw up a shield of ice to deflect the sudden twister before it got anywhere near him or Natsu. Or Happy, who was hovering in the air behind them with a long-suffering expression plastered on his face.

"I made first contact," Gray said smugly. "He's mine."

"You didn't actually hit  _him_ ," Natsu disagreed. "Just his magic. He's still fair game."

The dark mage was looking more and more disconcerted as the surreal argument dragged on, and began stealthily creeping backward, trying to disappear into the shadows of the alley behind him. Gray froze his feet to the ground.

"There, I made first contact with him."

"It doesn't count!"

"Sure it does. Looks like I'm going to win."

"Oh no you aren't!"

"Will  _someone_ please just put him out of his misery already?" Happy asked, whiskers twitching in exasperation. "I'm hungry and I want to eat a nice big fish, which can't happen until you finish this guy off so we can get going already. You'd better hurry it up, because Erza's almost done. If one of you doesn't take care of him soon then she's going to come do it for you."

Happy's appeal for food didn't really bother anyone—it wasn't like he would keel over if he had to wait an extra few minutes before getting his paws on some fish—but the warning about Erza certainly caught the boys' attention. They both looked over at the requip mage automatically, quickly ascertained that she was indeed finishing up against her opponents, and simultaneously came to the realization that Happy was right and she would come spoil their competition if they didn't wrap things up quickly.

"I got it!"

"He's mine!"

They both started forward in unison, calling forth their magic at the same exact time. Gray had spent so much time fighting against and alongside Natsu over the years that he knew exactly what his friend would do without even thinking about it. He could sense it: the slight shifting of weight onto Natsu's right foot as it slipped a half-inch in front of his left, the tensing of his muscles as he began to lift his arms, his chest puffing out as he prepared to suck in a huge lungful of air. Oh yes, Gray knew all the little cues that led up to Natsu overdoing things with a roar, as per usual.

As Gray subconsciously mirrored Natsu's stance and automatically adjusted to accommodate the dragon slayer's coming attack, he took a split second to reflect that it was rather amazing how in tune with each other they could be, even while competing. Then the thought skittered away as quickly as it had come, his mind firmly refocusing on the present.

It wasn't like he really had anything in common with this idiot anyway. What was amazing was how utterly stupid some of his own thoughts were sometimes.

Gray was still moving, his hands flying through the precise motions of his molding. He chose to just use simple ice lances this time, because they were quick and uncomplicated, and he needed something he could make in just a heartbeat if he wanted to be sure to beat Natsu's roar and score the win.

"Ice-make: lance!"

"Fire dragon's roar!"

The attacks were launched at precisely the same moment. And then everything went to hell.

Gray gaped in disbelief as a huge tsunami of water crashed down over the dark mage, cutting off his scream as it flooded his mouth and slammed him back into the building behind him. There was stunned silence for nearly an entire minute, before Gray turned on Natsu, eyes flashing with fury.

"What the hell did you  _do_?" he demanded.

"What did  _I_ do?" Natsu asked indignantly, his shock quickly morphing into irritated anger. "What did  _you_ do?"

"You melted my ice! How  _dare_ you?"

No one messed with Gray's magic. Not anyone who lived to tell the tale, anyway. Natsu had some nerve, screwing with Gray's ice like that. Although Gray was also curious about  _how_ he had done it, given that the ice was magicked and shouldn't be able to be melted that easily. Natsu had never managed to melt it like that before, and Gray had no idea how he had managed it now.

And oh, his pride was smarting. Natsu shouldn't have been able to do that.

"Your ice?" Natsu asked, throwing his hands into the air. "Who cares about your ice? What did you do to my fire? It's totally gone!"

"Yeah, well it melted my ice first."

"Ha, only because your magic is pathetic and mine is stronger."

"Excuse me?" Gray drew himself up to his full height and glowered at his rival. "Whose magic totally disappeared? Oh right, that would be  _yours_."

"Hey! I–"

Natsu broke off, and both mages automatically turned back to where the leader of the dark guild had pulled himself to his feet and was attempting to stagger away.

"He's mine!"

"He's mine!"

Once again, their combined attacks somehow managed to produce only a jet of water that blasted the unlucky dark mage to the ground, where he lay in a groaning heap.

"Would you stop doing that?" Gray cried, rounding on Natsu again. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Hey, I'm pretty sure you're the one who's messing things up."

This was an entirely unacceptable state of affairs. Gray quickly let his hands fly through the familiar motions, and was relieved to see ice spring to his fingertips before he let it dissipate. Okay, so it wasn't like his magic was totally screwed up then.

"Well, it looks like my magic still works perfectly fine unless you go messing with it," he told the dragon slayer, eyes narrowing.

"Mine too," Natsu retorted, summoning a tongue of flame in his hand to illustrate his point.

What a mess. On the other hand, as horrible as this problem was, there was still a more pressing concern.

"Well, let me finish this guy off and then we can figure out what the hell you're doing to mess up our magic," Gray said.

"Uh-uh, no way are you going to win!"

"I surrender!" the dark mage squeaked, eyes widening as he tried to crawl backward, away from the Fairy Tail mages.

"You can't  _surrender_ ," Natsu said, rolling his eyes. "You're our tiebreaker. One of us has to take you out."

"You know, he's already down for the count," Happy interrupted. "Just leave him be."

"But it was that weird messed-up magic," Gray explained, wondering how Happy could be so dense. "So we both kind of did it. That's still a tie, and ties are unacceptable."

"I'm sorry!" the dark guild's leader wailed, curling into a trembling ball as he waited for his impending doom. "Have mercy!"

Neither Gray nor Natsu had any interest in listening to his pleas, but their attacks were abruptly aborted when Erza came up behind them and whacked them both over the head.

"He's finished," she said, exasperated. "Stop that already."

"But then it will be a tie!" Natsu protested. "That weird watery thing doesn't count for either of us."

Erza's annoyed expression immediately morphed into one of curiosity. "Yes, I'd noticed that. What in the world happened with your magic?"

"He melted my ice!"

"He did something to my fire!"

"I've never seen you do anything like that before, and you've been fighting each other for years," Erza said, shaking her head. "So what happened this time?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Gray grumbled, crossing his arms as he scowled over at Natsu. "Our magics still work fine on their own, but it's like they're interfering with each other or something."

"I'm not so sure," Lucy disagreed, studying the boys with an almost awestruck expression. "I don't think your magics were interfering with each other at all. Did you just… Did you just do a unison raid?"

Gray stared at her, wondering if she had suddenly gone insane. A unison raid? Ha, that was ridiculous. As if he'd do a unison raid with someone he couldn't even get along with.

"Of course not," he snapped. "Why would I do a unison raid with  _him_? His magic is just messing with mine."

"Besides, our magics are basically opposites," Natsu added. "They're not compatible at all."

"I don't know… Fire plus ice could equal water," Erza mused. "I'd expect to see a lot more steam if your magics were actually clashing rather than combining into something new. And even if your magics don't seem compatible, you two are so in tune with each other that maybe they overcame that. Although this is the first time that I've seen someone do a unison raid on accident. That's awfully impressive, considering how difficult and rare they are."

"It's  _not_ a unison raid," Gray repeated, throwing his hands up in frustration.

"I think it is, though," Lucy said, shaking her head. "I've done one before with Juvia, and it kind of looked and felt like the same thing. Like you can set aside your differences for a few moments and come together so seamlessly that your magics can blend together into one, no matter how dissimilar they are from each other."

Gray snorted. "I'm not 'in tune' with  _him_. We were competing, if you hadn't noticed. We weren't working together."

"Well… You kind of were," Happy pointed out. "Even when you're competing against each other, you're working toward similar goals at the same time. Plus, you guys know each other so well that your fighting almost looks choreographed at this point."

"Nah, the ice block's right," Natsu said. "That couldn't be a unison raid. For one, I don't want to do a unison raid with him. And two, if we  _did_ do one, then it would be way cooler than some lame water thing."

Gray nodded his agreement. Not that he would ever actually want to work with Natsu, but if he did then their unison raid would be something cool and powerful. Water was totally lame.

"But this was only an  _accidental_ one," Lucy said. She grinned suddenly, her eyes lighting up as she considered the possibilities. "Think how amazing it could be if you actually  _tried_ to work together! Maybe you could make super cool ice dragons that breathe fire, or something! Seriously, if you can already do this much without even trying, imagine how powerful you could be if you actually worked at it!"

Gray shuddered involuntarily at the thought of working with his rival on something like that. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Natsu's shiver of disgust as well, and turned to look at him. The two friends stared at each other for a moment, and then Natsu smirked.

Gray could already tell what the dragon slayer was going to say before the words even left his mouth. He could see it in the curl of Natsu's lips, the spark in his eyes, the slight shifting of weight to promote a better offensive stance.

"Since we ended up with a tie and we still have to decide who wins and who it is that's messing up our magic, I guess there's only one way to settle this, huh?"

Gray grinned, slipping into a battle stance and raising his hands in preparation to mold. "You're on, squinty eyes."

* * *

"They…did a unison raid…on  _accident_?" Makarov asked slowly, eyeing the red-haired girl sitting across from him in disbelief.

"Yes," Erza confirmed. "I've never seen anything like it."

"On  _accident_ ," he repeated, leaning back in his chair and shaking his head. "Only those two could  _accidentally_  perform such a difficult technique. I still can't believe that they did it with each other, out of everyone. Aside from the fact that their magics should be totally incompatible, they can't get along with each other to save their lives."

Erza smiled brightly. "It just goes to show that they  _are_ good friends, even though they always deny it."

Makarov wasn't sure he'd go that far, but he decided to let Erza have her small victory for now. She certainly seemed pleased as punch with this newest development. But even still, there was one tiny thing left to clear up.

"And why did I get a summons from the Council?"

Erza's grin immediately fell away. "What?" she asked apprehensively, her eyes taking on a shifty look.

Makarov eyed her suspiciously, before picking up a piece of paper in front of him and leaning over his desk to hand it to the requip mage. He watched in silence as she read the missive. It was just a few short lines, but each word dripped with thinly veiled hostility.

Whatever Gray and Natsu had done must have been a real doozy, because the summons had shown up before the team had even arrived back at the guild. The Council had been in such a hurry to send it that it gave basically zero details, aside from an order for Makarov and the troublemaking boys to appear before them within the next week and a warning to expect to be paying reparations. Reparations for what, exactly, was what Makarov wanted to know.

Erza clearly had some idea, because although she looked vaguely uncomfortable, she didn't appear as surprised as she should. Clearing her throat awkwardly, she handed the letter back to Makarov.

"Well, you see, Gray and Natsu weren't exactly…happy about all this."

Makarov sighed in annoyance. "They fought? How many buildings did they destroy this time?"

"Uh… Yeah, about that…" Erza hesitated for a moment, before shrugging and plowing on. "Well, they were trying to fight each other afterwards, but the thing is… Well, their magic was still on the same wavelength, and every time they came into contact with each other, they basically combined into mini unison raids."

"…What?"

"Yeah, it was really weird."

"So they couldn't fight each other?" Makarov asked with a frown, trying to figure out where Erza was going with this.

"Well, you know how they say that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results?"

He closed his eyes. "What did they do?"

"They switched to fists for a little while, but they couldn't give up on the magic because they were frustrated that it didn't seem to be working right," Erza explained. "So they ended up flooding the entire town. And the surrounding area. And like three other nearby towns."

Makarov's eyes snapped open and he stared at Erza in bewilderment. "Flooded?"

The redhead smirked. "Apparently fire plus ice equals water."

"Water? They flooded…?"

"Everything," Erza confirmed with a sharp smile.

Makarov stared at her. He imagined how much damage would have been done by such a spectacular flood and how many homes would have been lost. He thought about what a pain in the neck the Council was going to be about this. He grimaced at how much the guild was going to owe in damages.

And then he imagined what Gray and Natsu's faces must have looked like when they saw the unexpected flood. For good measure, he also imagined the Council's faces upon hearing the news.

He burst out laughing. "Screw the summons. This is totally worth it."


	2. Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was written waaay after the first part. Originally it was just a standalone one-shot, but eventually, many months later, I wrote the part that had been floating around in the back of my brain for a while lol

Natsu and Gray were up to something. Lucy was sure of it. She watched them suspiciously as they bickered back and forth across the table from her. It all seemed so  _normal_ , but she knew something was up. They'd been acting a little strangely ever since that incident with the accidental unison raid.

Some things had gone exactly as expected. The guild had owed massive reparations for the flooding Gray and Natsu caused, but those two took the fall with Lucy and the others managing to squeak by nearly unscathed. The boys were, of course, cranky at each other and spent days fighting and bickering and generally trying to never work together on anything else ever again. Juvia had, predictably, been furious and heartbroken upon hearing that Gray had done a unison raid with someone besides her. She had also taken to calling Natsu a 'love rival', which had made Gray turn quite literally green and started up a new round of fighting between the boys. Juvia's delusions knew no bounds, and Lucy shuddered to think of what her fantasies might consist of now.

On the other hand, Juvia, however deluded, had a point. After the expected tantrums, Natsu and Gray had begun running off together quite frequently. When questioned, they rolled their eyes and acted like anyone who hadn't guessed was an idiot.  _Of course_ , they were working to figure out how to  _never do a unison raid again_.

This could be an acceptable explanation—if rather discouraging, since of course the two people who could  _accidentally_ perform great magical techniques were going to make sure it never happened again just to prove that they never worked together—given that the strange phenomenon  _had_ reoccurred. Gray and Natsu could use their magics just fine most of the time, but every once in a while they would be fighting near each other and their magics would suddenly combine into those watery mini unison raids. And once they were on the same wavelength, they could stay that way for upwards of a day before settling back down again.

Lucy could understand why they wanted to control that disconcerting new quirk, but she was  _convinced_ there was something else going on too. She couldn't exactly put her finger on why she was so sure of it, but there was just something a little too smug and secretive about those two these days.

Gray snickered loudly at something Natsu whispered, and Lucy narrowed her eyes at them.

"What are you two up to?" she asked.

"Up to?" Natsu gave her a look of wide-eyed innocence. "Why would we be up to anything?"

"I don't know, but you've been strange lately."

He snorted. "You're the strange one, Lucy."

"What's  _that_ supposed to mean?"

"She's right," Happy complained, frowning at Natsu. "You've been weird."

Gray rolled his eyes in the general direction of something behind Natsu. "Only one thing has been especially weird lately."

Natsu snuck a glance over his shoulder and then turned back with a fearsome scowl. "She's  _watching_ me again!"

"Welcome to my life," Gray muttered.

Lucy spotted Juvia glaring at Natsu's back and stifled a laugh. "Better you than me!"

One good thing about Juvia's new intense jealousy of Natsu was that it took the heat off of Lucy for once. This might have been the first time ever that Lucy had lost the status of primary love rival, and she reveled in it. No glares or rude comments or attempted drownings in sight. If Natsu had to deal with it instead… Well, Lucy wasn't too picky about who else might be the recipient of Juvia's tender attentions, as long as it wasn't  _her_.

"It's so annoying," Natsu complained. "She's always glaring at me. And I  _do not_ want to be the subject of her perverted delusions."

"I notice no one cares that  _I'm_ stuck with her perverted delusions," Gray muttered. "Quit whining. You've had to deal with it for a couple months. I've been stuck with it almost since I first met her."

"I'm actually kind of offended," Natsu continued as if he hadn't heard.

Gray's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. " _You're_ offended?  _Please_. If anyone is offended, it's  _me_."

"Why?" asked Happy.

"For one, I'm offended that she's still harassing me even though I've told her I'm not interested multiple times. Two, I'm offended that she suddenly thinks I'm gay, as if that's the only possible reason why I might not like her. Three, I'm offended that she suddenly thinks I'm gay  _and is still pursuing me anyway_ , as if she'd somehow change my mind if that were the case. And four, I'm especially offended that she thinks that if I were suddenly gay, I'd want anything to do with  _Natsu_ of all people."

" _Hey!_ " Natsu protested. "I'm offended by that!"

Happy rolled his eyes. " _That's_ what you're offended by?"

"I'm a real catch! I'm way out of the ice princess's league!"

Gray snorted derisively. "You have pink hair."

"It's very  _manly_ pink hair!"

"And now you sound like Elfman. If he had pink hair."

Lucy decided to put an end to the brewing argument before Erza materialized beside them to start yelling. "Well, are you  _sure_?" she teased Gray. "I mean, poor Juvia has been trying to get your attention forever."

" _Poor_ Juvia," Gray muttered scornfully. "No, I like girls." Rolling his eyes in Juvia's direction again, he added, "I just don't like  _that_ girl."

"What if people start thinking I actually like you just because Juvia does?" Natsu asked in horror.

"No one takes Juvia's fantasies seriously. Anyway, we all already know that you're in love with Lucy."

" _W-what?_ " Natsu spluttered. His face turned as red as a tomato and he shot a panicked look at Lucy, who began choking on her own spit. " _Gray!_ "

"What?" Gray looked between Natsu and Lucy with an almost puzzled expression. "What are you so worked up about? I mean, we all know that she's in love with you too. I don't see how it's a big surprise."

" _Gray!_ " Lucy wailed, wanting to sink through the floor and die. "Where do you get these ideas from?"

"Call it a shot in the dark," Gray deadpanned, voice dry as the desert.

"Everyone knows," Happy added. "It's really obvious that you lllllike each other!"

Lucy was about to either die of embarrassment or strangle her horrible friends, but she was saved from having to decide when the doors to the guild flew open with a loud crash. She nearly jumped out of her skin and toppled to the floor as she whipped around.

Lyon rushed inside, face red with exertion and breaths coming in panting gasps. "What happened?" he demanded past his wheezing breaths. "What's wrong? I came as fast as I could."

"Huh?" Happy asked blankly. "Nothing happened, as far as I know."

A predatory smirk spread over Gray's face as he stood up. "Showtime," he muttered gleefully.

He, unlike everyone else, did not seem surprised by Lyon's sudden appearance. Lucy was sure this did not bode well.

Lyon ran an appraising look over Gray. "What was so urgent that you had to call me down here on such short notice?"

"I want to show you something."

"Show me…? Show me  _what_? You said it was an emergency!"

"It is," Gray said. He wore a smug grin and strolled over until he was clear of the tables spread out over the hall. "I'm going to prove once and for all that I'm the better mage."

Lyon snorted derisively. "As if. I'm older and stronger, and you'd best get used to it." He crossed his arms over his chest and leveled an unamused look at his friend. "I'm not impressed that you thought it was appropriate to call me down here for an 'emergency' when you're just up to your usual hijinks."

Natsu snickered loudly. "But it's super cute how you came running all the way down here in a panic the second you thought he was in trouble."

Lyon flushed. "I-is not!"

"Well…it  _kind_ of is," Lucy mused. He glared at her.

Lucy glanced over at Natsu and Happy. Happy met her gaze with an equally puzzled look and a shrug. Natsu was too busy watching Gray and Lyon with a wide grin to even notice. Conversations around the guild were dying down as everyone waited with bated breath to see if they'd get a free show today.

Gray, for once, did not get in on the action. Apparently he had more extravagant plans than simply teasing Lyon today, and he was eager to get the show on the road.

"Watch this," he said.

His hands fluttered through the air like pale birds, forming a series of surprisingly delicate and intricate maneuvers that resembled his normal molding technique but seemed far more complex. His magic built up in the air like the chilly touch of a coming winter, but there was something a little different about his normal signature. Lucy couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something warmer and wilder to the normal chill and precision.

He swept his hands out in a dramatic arc, and ice exploded from his fingertips with a howling blast of frigid wind. A huge dragon made of ice towered above the gathered mages, pressing against the rafters and filling every inch of available space at the front of the hall. Every detail was in place with Gray's usual precision, except perhaps even more exquisitely so. Every scale was carved delicately and glimmered like crystal, the glittering wings swept out as if a second away from flight, the horns and spikes were fearsome in their realism, and the tail swept out in a graceful curve tipped with a deadly spike. It was a creature both so beautiful and so deadly that it took Lucy's breath away.

And then it moved.

The wings folded snugly against the huge body and the tail swept around to curl in a loose arc around Lyon, settling on the floor a few feet behind him.

"Holy crap," someone breathed from behind Lucy.

"Whoa," Happy agreed, eyes wide.

Lucy was equally stunned, although she noticed that Natsu was looking rather smug as he slithered out of his seat and strolled up beside Gray.

"I-impossible!" Lyon sputtered. His eyes bulged out of his head as he stared at the beast. "You could never master dynamic ice-make!"

"And that's why I win," Gray said smugly. "You haven't figured out static, have you? So it looks like I have you beat."

"You have to be cheating! Do you have another ice mage hiding around here?"

"Nope."

The dragon dipped its head, its neck making a swanlike curve as it bent to get a closer look at Lyon. It stopped at the eye level of the ice mage and puffed out a chilly cloud of condensation from its nostrils. Lyon's mouth worked soundlessly as he examined every inch of the beast's head.

"Even its  _eyes_  move!" he said in awe.

Gray smirked. "Pretty cool, ain't it?"

"But  _how_?"

The dragon opened its mouth, jaws spreading wide and sharp crystal teeth yawning menacingly. Lucy was almost as entranced with watching its movements as everyone else, but her eye caught a flicker of color and movement deeper in the dragon's chest. At approximately the location where its heart would be, a spark of fire flickered to life and glittered beautifully within its icy cage.

In the blink of an eye, the dragon snorted out a small jet of flame that sent Lyon scrambling backwards as he cursed and clutched at his face. Gray and Natsu broke into raucous laughter and high-fived.

"What the hell?" Lyon roared. He flapped his hand to direct smoke away from his singed eyebrows. "How did you do  _that_?"

"Ooh, good thing Yuka has enough eyebrows for the both of you," Gray said with a chuckle. "You're going to look a bit silly for a while."

"You figured out how to do something besides water with your unison raids!" Happy said excitedly.

Lucy shook her head, torn between delight and exasperation. "I like how the only way you two can stand to work together is to pull a prank."

"It was a  _good_ prank, though," Natsu said proudly.

"You're doing unison raids?" Lyon dropped his hands from his face—Lucy had to wince at the smoldering remains of his eyebrows—and glared at Gray and Natsu with a face like thunder. "And you decided it was a good idea to use them to call me down here for an  _'emergency'_ so that you could burn off my eyebrows? Seriously? Are you five years old?"

"Well," Gray said seriously, "Lucy told us to do it."

" _What?_ " Lucy screeched. Everyone turned to look at her and she gaped back, not sure how she had gotten pulled into this.

"After the first time we did the accidental water thing," Natsu said, as if that cleared everything up.

Gray nodded and met her gaze with eyes that were a little too earnest and solemn. "You said that we should make an ice dragon that breathed fire, remember?"

Lucy…did remember that. She had thought that if only Gray and Natsu really worked together, they could do amazing things. After all, they could practically make tsunamis on  _accident_. Really working at it could make something even more impressive. And yes, she might have specifically mentioned that it would be cool to see an ice dragon that breathed fire. And, to be fair, she had been  _right_. This was a fearsome and majestic and beautiful ice dragon, and she didn't doubt that it could torch a whole city if they really wanted it to.

But really? _That's_ what they had taken away from her comment?

"I said it would be cool to see an ice dragon that breathed fire!" she protested, throwing her hands up. "I didn't say that you should make an ice dragon that breathed fire just to prank Lyon and singe his eyebrows off!"

"Oh." Gray scratched at the side of his nose in a way that might have been sheepish if his eyes weren't so smug. "You should be clearer next time."

"Yeah," Natsu agreed. "How were we supposed to know?"

"You–  _Uuugh_." Lucy buried her face in her hands so that she didn't strangle anyone.

"You're going to regret that," Lyon said in a voice that was deadly calm.

His hands flew through the motions and an ice tiger sprang at the troublesome boys. Gray and Natsu reacted to the attack with magic of their own.

And produced a solid wave of water that swept the tiger away and crashed over Lyon.

"What the hell?" Gray cried. "Natsu, stop it!"

"Hey!" Natsu protested. "It's your fault too!"

"I thought we figured this out!"

"Crap, we must still be too 'in tune' after doing the other unison raid…"

"Well, stop! Lyon is for  _me_ to beat up."

"I can beat him up too!"

Lyon staggered back to his feet. "…Water? Really? Nothing is making sense today."

Gray and Natsu snapped magic back at him at the same time, which only resulted in another jet of water. And, of course, more fighting as they yelled at each other.

"…Maybe not as impressive after all," Lucy said dryly as she watched them. "Looks like they still haven't figured it all out."

Happy shook his head. "I want to say that I'm surprised, but this is Natsu and Gray and this is exactly like them."

Juvia charged over and shoved Natsu aside to throw herself at Gray and hug him tightly. "Gray-sama does not need love rival for water! Juvia will make him all the water he wants!"

"Oh my gosh, get away from me!" Gray wailed.

He shoved Juvia away, and the ice dragon still taking up half the guild swept its tail around to knock her to the other side of the room. This distraction only lasted half a second before Gray and Natsu were back at it again. Not only were they attacking Lyon when he popped back up, but also each other. With the same results. Water, water everywhere, and their poor dragon was practically shaking itself apart in confusion as both its creators tried to turn it on the other.

And as Lucy became aware of the rest of the guild running around and shouting, she suddenly realized the danger.

"Oh no!" she cried. "They're going to flood everything like last time!"

"Sure looks like it," Erza said, materializing beside Lucy. She had her arms crossed over her chest and was watching the chaos with a flat look in her eyes.

"Where have  _you_ been?" Happy asked. "We could've really used you a couple minutes ago."

"I saw it."

"You have to stop them!" Lucy said quickly. She shuddered as another thought struck her. "The Master! He's still at one of those meetings with the other guild leaders. He's going to come back and find the guild flooded. Erza, hurry and stop them before they flood the guild!"

Erza considered that for a moment before shaking her head. "I don't think so."

Both Lucy and Happy blinked at her in incomprehension. " _What?_ " they said in unison.

Erza was normally all too happy to break up Gray and Natsu's fights and discipline them for all the damage they caused. It was unthinkable that she might let such a huge transgression slide.

"The Master seemed to find their flooding entertaining last time," Erza said with a straight face. "He even said that the Council summons was worth it. I think he would find this amusing."

Lucy and Happy exchanged a horrified look and gazed upon Erza in abject horror.

"I think this is different," Lucy said weakly.

But no matter how much they begged and pleaded, the water kept rising and Erza stayed firm. She was impossible to budge once she'd set her mind on something. And although she was remarkably smart most of the time, she could be distressingly naïve and oblivious at others. Lucy  _did not_ think Makarov would be pleased to come back and find that the guild had become a lake in his absence, but Erza had clearly taken whatever conversation they might have had before and run with it.

"Fine," Happy huffed, finally giving up on talking some sense into their stubborn friend. "I'm getting out of here before I drown."

"Take me with you!" Lucy said, grabbing him. "The water is ruining my shoes!"

"But you're  _heavy_!"

"I am not!"

"You can take me as well," Erza said, clutching Lucy's arm.

Happy's eyes widened. "I don't want to have to carry  _both_ of you!"

"Too bad."

So, with much grunting and straining and complaining, Happy managed to flutter a few feet above the ground and drag the girls through the war zone. They raced for the back door to avoid the fight that was still raging in the front, and Lucy caught one last glimpse of another little tsunami before they made it to safety. Anyone who hadn't joined or been caught up in the fight had already evacuated the building, and they all stood in a bedraggled cluster and gazed mournfully upon their flooding guild.

Lucy kicked off her wet shoes with a sigh. "I should have known better than to suggest that they work together."

* * *

Makarov gazed upon the ruined guild hall in despair. He left for  _one day_ to go to a meeting and came back to a sea where his guild had been? Honestly, did he need to supervise his brats every hour of the day?

He watched as Gray and Natsu, accompanied by some less guilty guildmates, worked at hauling out all the water-damaged property on the other side of the hall. Some of it might be salvageable, but a good deal of it would have to be replaced. And they would have to keep an eye on the building to make sure that the water hadn't damaged the wood and structure too badly. What a pain.

"It seems to be going well," Erza said, materializing at his shoulder as if by magic.

Makarov gave her a sidelong look. "…Why?"

She blinked at him innocently. "Why…the repairs are going well? I've been very harsh on Gray and Natsu. I'm making sure they work hard to fix what they ruined."

That was true. Erza had taken great delight in cracking the whip and working the troublemaking boys into the ground. She always had found a little too much enjoyment in punishing them, although it could never be bad to take them down a notch.

It was just that she was usually just as strict about keeping them out of trouble in the first place.

"Why didn't you stop them from flooding the guild?" Makarov clarified. "I know you were here. Everyone saw you and you admitted it yourself. I expect those two to get into trouble, but I trusted you to keep them in check during my absence."

Erza tilted her head and studied him with something like curiosity. "I thought you would like it."

"You…  _What?_ "

"Well, you seemed amused when I first told you about their problem with the accidental unison raids. You laughed about the flooding and said you didn't care about the summons because it was worth it. So obviously you should find it amusing if it happened again, right?"

She stared at him with earnest, self-assured eyes. He frowned back. Was she serious? She  _honestly_ thought that was the same thing?

Makarov eyed her with new suspicion. Was she  _trolling_ him?

But her expression was so serious and earnest, as if she truly didn't understand why he might be upset. That was a little hard to believe, but… Well, Erza had always had a bit of an odd way of looking at the world, and this wouldn't be the first time she and the others had failed to see eye-to-eye on something that seemed obvious to both sides.

Makarov sighed and turned away. "Next time, don't let them damage the guild."

"Oh. Alright. Understood."

"Why don't you take a break? You've been working the boys hard. They deserve to put some work into fixing this, but you don't need to take on so much responsibility for them."

"Oh, I enjoy keeping them busy."

"I've noticed, but take a break."

"Well… I suppose I could use a piece of cake."

"You do that." Makarov shook his head as she walked away with a bounce in her step. She might be the most mature of that team, but clearly she still had a ways to go.

But maybe this had been partly his fault too. Retribution for having laughed about the other flooding incident instead of being the mature, responsible guild master he was supposed to be. But really, it had seemed a lot funnier when it was someone  _else_ being flooded out.

Erza disappeared out the front door, and Makarov cracked his knuckles as he turned on Gray and Natsu. Time to get to work.

* * *

Erza made it all the way outside and halfway down the street before she burst out laughing.

No one out-trolled Erza Scarlet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And somehow Erza won the whole story even though it was supposed to be about Gray and Natsu XD Idk, I just couldn't overlook the pranking potential and Lyon is an easy target. And the poor girls just always get stuck with their antics, ha ha.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, the jab at Juvia was totally necessary. Sorry not sorry :)


End file.
